Midterm

In this paper I will prove how the moral of our society is to never give up, and how having a skeptical faith, avoiding dogma, to listen and watch well, and to clarify and define ends, the better to choose the means has shaped everything up till what we are today and is still what we need to progress. I will support this using The Wealth and Poverty of Nations by David S. Landes, Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, Medici Money by Tim Parks and using Dictionary.com and www.wikipedia.com. These concepts and the lesson of the past 600 years is important to know because it is what we need to keep our society going. It is what we need to keep progressing and to get where we want to go.

When we think of revolution we think of changing the world. There are more underlying factors that force revolution than just the aspect of P.E.R.S.I.A however. Looking back at the past 600 years you see continuous concepts reappearing. With every revolution the world goes through, those concepts get stronger. Like the world isn't yet ready to give up. Having a skeptical faith, avoiding dogma, to listen and watch well, and to clarify and define ends, the better to choose the means. These reappear throught history causing revolution, being the outcome of revolution and being intertwined with every revolution. These concepts are also what we need to keep progressing in the world. Humanism being the first to create these concepts, and then continuous revolutions making them stronger is showing that we want to get somewhere and the world is never ready to give up. "Never give up" probally is one of the most over used lessons in school today is the moral of our society. We never give up, after humanism we continued to show all of those concepts throughout history. Through the reformation, the scientific revolution, and the industrial revolution, and we will continue to progress. (4)

In the past 600 years the people in history have been questioning their religion and their beliefs ever since the beginning. The beginning meaning humanism. During the humanist revolution people began to be skeptical about their faiths. They didn’t have a skeptical faith. However the plan is to have a skeptical faith, right? Humanism was a step in that direction. Before humanism people thought of the world and themselves as one thing, nothing would change that. They wouldn't question anything, they would just believe. The outcome of that revolution was individuality. People started to become skeptical of not only religion but of goals, and opinions. People started to think for themselves. Ursury started to take over peoples lives. The church however kept a closed mind. They didn't avoid dogma and looked down opon usury. The Medici didn't care and neither did other bankers.(2) This is what made this revolution so productive, but it wasn't enough. Not everyone felt the same way, some still followed the church. The lesson then comes in, we need to keep trying. We have the reformation next. People began to question their own religion. Started being skeptical, not believing everything the church told them. Those ideas started to get going in the humanism era but really came out during the reformation. The reformation were more steps in the right direction. We didn’t stop there though. We kept trying and pushed forward; we didn't give up. At last we have the scientific revolution. The scientific revolution was the era of discovery. Having skeptical faith means to question, be observant, being aware, and being skeptical about what people tell you. The outcome of the reformation was people questioning the church. Some started new ideas of there own. These two revolutions were just stepping stones to the big bang in really making progress cultivationg a skepical faith. This revolution was the scientific revolution. Is Galelio right? This really started making peoples brains turn. It fired the engine of discovery. This lead to questions, choosing right or wrong by your own beliefs. Cultivating a skeptical faith. (4)

Dogma means "An authoritative principle, belief, or statement of ideas or opinion, especially one considered to be absolutely true."(3) In other words, to believe in something so strongly, to know truth and have faith, without letting outside infulence in. This is exactly what we don't want in our world. What we want is to be skeptical. We want to be open-minded. Who ever changed the world with a closed mind? If we have dogma, we will stop progressing. Humanism, the reformatioin, the scientific revolution, they all happend and created ideas, questions, inventions, and they pushed dogma away. Having dogma in our world would bring us back to before humanism. It would bring us back to fuedilism and the middle ages. When they all believed on thing and never questioned anything. We have avoided dogma throughout history. Look at the humanist revolution. They learned individuality and opinion. During the reformation they continued the process in skeptical faith. The scientific revoltuion, they found discovery, knowledge and new ideas. If we didn't avoid dogma none of these things would have happend. We would have made no progress and wouldn't be where we are today. That is why we need to continue to avoid dogma. So we can keep progressing, and keep trying. (4)

Learning from others is so important to society. If you don't watch others or listen to others, how will you learn? Not only does watching and learning impact our society today, and in the past 600 years, but it is vital to revolution. There are many ways in which this concept is so important to revolution. Like during the humanist revolution. People had to watch each other, gain ideas from each other and then transform those ideas into their own. Individualitly had to spread to everyone and then revolutionize the world. This concept is also important to the scientific revolution. People started listening and becoming interested in others opinions compared to their own. Some people would listen and watch others mistakes. Especially scientists of this era. They would watch one scientist fail, and they would continue to prove his or her theory. This brings us back to our theme, never give up. In order to make a revolution happen like the scientific revolution, this theme is extremlely important. You can't give up, you have to listen and watch well, pay attention to detail and pick up on mistakes. You have to revise what was done before you, never give up, fix it and sit back and look at what you accomplished. This is how discoveries, inventions and new ideas brought further meaning to a skeptical faith and revolutionized the world. These are not the only revolutions however where listening and watching is a very important key part to the revolution. To get educated, to find flaws, to get anywhere you have to listen and learn. During the industrial revolution, Britian being the huge leader industrially had everyones attention. Wether they feared them or followed them,aa people were watching and listening to Britian. Listening and watching well was a huge impact on the industrial revolution. How did other countries create an industrial state like Britian? They observed and watched Britian grow, and wether its right or wrong took Britians ideas and changed the lives of their people and their economies forever. That is what completly revolutionized the world. (4)

In reality, revolutions just happen. They don't get planned and they don't give you warning, they just change the world. That is a good thing. We needed the world to change in the way it has. We have progressed. However, the lesson still being learned, we can't give up. Now, after all the change we do need to claify and define ends. We need to set a plan and decide where we want to go. Like America and the other follower contries of Britian in the industrial revolution we need to set goals what will let us achieve our highest outcome. What will benifit us the most, economicaly, socialy, intellectually, politically, religiously and anstheticaly all the things that make up our world. To clarify and define ends, the better to choose the means, is the most important thing we can draw from everything we have learned throughout the past 600 years. It means that we have to set goals, see down the road and discover and claify what it is that we want most. It means that we have to figure out what exactly is the outcome of what we want, and what is the easiest way to get there. What we don't want is to be like Faustus. He made a deal with the devil without thinking about the long term consequences. If he thought about it, if he clarified and defined ends, he would have understood the means. He would have made a better decision and ended up with a better outcome. We don't want to go in blind like faustus. We want to plan ahead, set goals and know where we want to go. We want to "clarify and define ends, the better to choose the means." (4)

In conclusion the trend of western history is to keep a skeptical faith, to avoid dogma, to listen and watch well, and to claify and define ends, the better to choose the means. We have seen these things throughout every revolution. They cause revolutions, they are the outcome to revolutions, and they are throughout revolutions, and revolutions need these things. If we never give up and keep doing these things like the past 600 years then we will be fine. It is those things that will bring us to our destination. These concepts are all connected. If you keep a skeptical faith then you can listen and watch well, if you avoid dogma then all of these things can happen, and if we do all of these things then we will reach our goal. (4)

Marlow, Christopher. Doctor Faustus. (1)

Parks, Tim. Medici Money. New York, London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2005. (2)

Dictionary.com (3)

Landes, David S. Wealth and Poverty of Nations. New York, London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1999 (4)